West Hartford Mom Sells The Magic Of Christmas, In A Bottle

WEST HARTFORD — — Jessica Mikan and her son were in upheaval last year, bouncing back and forth between their home on Long Island and Mikan's hometown of West Hartford.

When the two, due to personal circumstances, had to stay in West Hartford for Christmas, Mikan said her little boy was worried – what if Santa Claus didn't know where to find him?

So Mikan and her mother dug out an "old family recipe" for magic reindeer food, and they sprinkled it outside to attract Santa's reindeer. Santa came.

"It saved Christmas for us," she said. "One little thing."

Mikan, 37, now lives in West Hartford full-time. She is the entrepreneur behind Kringle, "magic reindeer food" that comes in an ornament – to be hung on the Christmas tree until Christmas Eve, then sprinkled outside – and is available at dozens of stores in Connecticut and New York. She started the business this year.

Mikan says her story is one of believing in your dreams, as well as in the magic of the holidays. One tagline of her product is "Never stop believing," and that's not limited to belief in Santa.

"It was impossible getting a business loan … it's very hard getting into large venues, being a small business," Mikan said. "And I just think that the more someone tells you no, the more driven you become. Why not follow a dream? Why not make kids happy?"

"Kringle" is made of oats, sanding sugar, rock salt, edible glitter and, according to Mikan, some magic. And everything from the vial that holds it to the plastic in which it's wrapped to the cardboard shelves on which it's displayed is made in America.

"Making sure this was made in the United States was the most important thing," Mikan said. She could have gotten clear plastic bags cheaply overseas, but instead she ordered them from Allentown, Penn. The labels are made in New Britain, the displays in East Hartford.

"I'm a third or fourth generation American," she said. "My grandfather worked at the post office for 20 years. My grandmother was an orphan at the age of 5, and she would always say you need to work. Keep your head down. That's what we need to get back to."

That old-fashioned drive is what Mikan says got her product into about 40 stores. Several mom-and-pop toy stores, tree farms, the Walgreens in Bishops Corner and a large Long Island supermarket chain are among them.

"Without a Facebook, without a Twitter, without a business card, I've gotten into 40 stores. With a handshake," she said. "And each local store, each community, whether it's big or small, is telling a story."

Deb Necker, owner of Necker's Toyland in Simsbury, said Mikan "is the coolest entrepreneur I've met in years. She just had such confidence in her product.

"I believe in the magic; that's what it's all about," Necker said. "It's something that the kids can actually engage in that's positive and wholesome and not greedy."

Magic Kringle, which sells for under $10, is selling well at Necker's and at other stores in the area, store owners say.

"It's just so different, I've never seen anything like it," said Dori Romancik, toy manager at Time Machine Hobby in Manchester. "It seems like the kids automatically know what it is … and their faces light up."

"It's cool to say this is made by a lady in West Hartford," said Ed Dunn, manager of the toy department at the Toy Chest in West Hartford Center. "And anything we can do to perpetuate the tradition of Christmas is a great thing."